Despite now being one of the most-loved members of the Royal Family, the Duchess of Edinburgh didn’t find the transition into royal life all plain sailing. Before marrying into royalty, the 60-year-old – who has been married to Prince Edward since June 1999 – had her own career in PR.

Due to her working background, Sophie is said to have found it difficult to adjust. As previously reported by the Mirror, Sophie once voiced that it “took me a while to find my feet”. Speaking of her start as a royal, she once said: “The frustration was I had to reduce my expectations of what I could actually do. I couldn’t turn up at a charity and go, ‘Right, I think you should be doing this’, because that’s what I was used to doing in my working life.”

She addded: “I had to take a really big step back and go, OK, they want you to be the icing on the cake, the person to come in to thank their volunteers and funders, not necessarily to tell them how to run their communications plan.”

Having now nailed being a working member of the Royal Family, Sophie’s popularity in evident to see – with her often being praised for how hard-working she is.

Sophie, mum to Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and James, Earl of Wessex, 17, is known to have grown particularly close to members of the Royal Family – and previously shared a close bond with her late mother-in-law.

Also known to be close to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the King is also said to be particularly fond of his sister-in-law.

A senior royal aide previously told The Daily Mail that the King appreciates Sophie and her work approach.

They said: “She really just does get on with it, without much fuss. That’s appreciated.”

Although Sophie won’t be joining her husband, it has been announced that Edward will be representing the King at at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV next weekend.